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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSurvivable IPCC projections are based on science fiction - the reality is much worse
The IPCC's 'Representative Concentration Pathways' are based on fantasy technology that must draw massive volumes of CO2 out of the atmosphere late this century, writes Nick Breeze - an unjustified hope that conceals a very bleak future for Earth, and humanity.Of the four shown RCP's only one keeps us within the range that climate scientists regard as survivable. This is RCP 2.6 that has a projected temperature range of 0.9°C and 2.3°C.
It is quite clear that we have no carbon budget whatsoever. The account, far from being in surplus, is horrendously overdrawn. To claim we have a few decades of safely burning coal, oil and gas is an utter nonsense.
In February 2015 the National Research Council in the United States launched their two reports on "climate interventions". Dr Nutt concluded with this statement on CDR (Carbon Dioxide Removal):
"Carbon Dioxide Removal strategies offer the potential to decrease carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere but they are limited right now by their slow response, by their inability to scale up and their high cost."
Dr Nutt's conclusion points to very important factor that we can elaborate on with a rare case of certainty. There is no proposed CDR technology that can be scaled up to suck billions of tonnes out of the Earth's atmosphere. It simply does not exist in the real world.
We have front row seats for the unstoppable destruction of an entire planetary biosphere. What an amazing time to be alive!
On edit: James Inhofe doesn't have a snowball's chance in Hell of being right.
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cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)Did ya hear abt the methane cloud found in the SW US? And how the SW has been warmer than usual this year?
Theory about a warming event
Methane is a known agent for capturing the sun's heat-rays and holding that heat in the atmosphere. Recently, a very large methane cloud was discovered in the SW of the US.
This winter has seen a steady significant upward change in the temperatures in the SW of the US, and up into Utah. Could that change be attributable to the methane? Discuss
Following is a link to a DU post which links to and describes the methane bubble,
Thanks to hatrack for the report seen here:
Four Corners Methane Cloud Size Of Delaware; NASA 1st Thought It Was Instrumental Error
When NASA researchers first saw data indicating a massive cloud of methane floating over the American Southwest, they found it so incredible that they dismissed it as an instrument error. But as they continued analyzing data from the European Space Agency’s Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography instrument from 2002 to 2012, the “atmospheric hot spot” kept appearing.
The team at NASA was finally able to take a closer look, and have now concluded that there is in fact a 2,500-square-mile cloud of methane—roughly the size of Delaware—floating over the Four Corners region, where the borders of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah all intersect.
A report published by the NASA researchers in the journal Geophysical Research Letters concludes that “the source is likely from established gas, coal, and coalbed methane mining and processing.” Indeed, the hot spot happens to be above New Mexico's San Juan Basin, the most productive coalbed methane basin in North America.
Methane is 20-times more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2, and has been the focus of an increasing amount of attention, especially in regards to methane leaks from fracking for oil and natural gas. Pockets of natural gas, which is 95-98% methane, are often found along with oil and simply burned off in a very visible process called “flaring.” But scientists are starting to realize that far more methane is being released by the fracking boom than previously thought.
EDIT
http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/10/17/nasa-confirms-2500-square-mile-cloud-methane-floating-over-american-southwest
http://www.democraticunderground.com/112776546
